The Calling
by LILKENNY
Summary: Just when Chloe is already having a hard time a new case brings up old memories and new problems. Case fic. (Currently on hold, sorry!)
1. Prologue

_A/N: This is going to be a case fic. Something different for a change. It's placed somewhere in season 2, although Charlotte/Mom probably won't really play a role on this one, so you can consider it AU in this regard. I would still say, regarding their relationship, it's placed before Lucifer went to Vegas but when Chloe and him already got a bit closer._

 _Thanks a lot to Sop12345d for helping me out as beta for this story!_

* * *

 **Prologue**

It was dark all around her. Not as dark as the night, but close to it. Twilight wouldn't fit the description, though, because this felt more as if the light was deliberately being held back. A place where the sun simply didn't reach. But the air was hot and stale nonetheless. Besides the heat, she could still feel a shiver running down her spine. Everything about the place gave her the creeps.

When she stepped forward, she could feel something breaking below her feet, but she didn't dare to look down because it didn't sound like wood, more like… ice cracking. Only there couldn't be any ice here - the air was too hot for that. There was a pesky little thought nagging in the back of her head what it might be, but she didn't want to think about that.

 _Get out of here_ , her brain screamed. A smell penetrated her nose - a smell she had known before. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was. Blood… a lot of blood, probably.

Her steps were hesitant at first, but suddenly, it felt as if time was on fast forward. Instead of walking through these strange hallways, she suddenly found herself in an opening. And said opening was obviously the source of the smell she had detected earlier - the smell of blood.

It was everywhere, and instantly the shivers returned. So much blood… The opening seemed endless and even if it was only tiny specs all around, it had to be the blood of oh so many people to cover such a large area.

Knees shaking and fear once more gripping her heart, she went to turn around when she noticed something in the middle of the opening. It didn't look like a human, but even from the distance she could make out that it was shaking.

The figure looked like a bunch of… feathers? _Giant_ feathers for that matter. And it was… crying? The sobs were only interrupted by hiccups here and there and some murmured words she couldn't understand.

Again, she had the feeling that time was on fast forward and suddenly, she was standing closer to the figure. She realized that it was talking, but she didn't understand the words. Her heartbeat sped up and she just _knew_ she should get away from here.

The voice of the figure suddenly sounded somewhat angry, but she still couldn't make out the words. It was as if he was talking in another language, the sounds all scrambled up - somewhat muffled as well.

Once again, time shifted and the figure was standing, and now she could see that what she'd thought to be a bunch of feathers were instead wings - attached to what looked like a human. Before she could think about the wings, the figure shifted, one of the wings came down just a tad bit and she got a glimpse of the figure's face.

Screaming out loud, she finally managed to escape the place and woke up.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: So, and because the prologue is that short, here's the first "real" chapter as well._

 _Thanks again to Sop12345d for helping me out as beta!_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

She had to swallow when she came to the scene. Bile was piling up in her throat but she swallowed it down and tried to concentrate on the job at hand. One day, this job would scare her too much, but today was not that day. So, she tried not to look overly sick to her stomach and passed the yellow tape.

Chloe had had a bad feeling about this case when she got the call, but being here made it even worse. Something had made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, but she couldn't quite put a finger on what caused it. All she knew was that she would gladly give this case up to somebody else. It gave her the shivers just to look at this scene.

It was gruesome, and she had to swallow once more to keep the bile at bay.

Blood and… _other things_ … were splattered all around. And there was a _lot_ of blood and entrails around here. This could hardly all be from one victim. The call from dispatch hadn't mentioned several bodies, though. So far, she had yet to see one at all. So taking another deep breath, she stepped forward.

CSU was all over the scene to pick up everything. Probably bagging a liver there and a piece of a lung over there. She shook her head and tried to get those pictures out of her head. They were just bagging evidence. It was easier to think of all these red… spots as evidence instead of them being the last remains of what once might have been a human being.

"What do we have?"

She could hear her own voice, although she wasn't sure if it sounded as strong as she'd wanted it to be. Something seemed to be off today. But she didn't know what had knocked her off kilter like this. Maybe it was just the fatigue. She hadn't slept very well for a few days now.

"It's really not pretty," Ella answered, having appeared suddenly from somewhere. "But most of it is apparently fake."

"All this blood is just… fake?"

"Uh-huh. Well, not fake as in… 'fake', but..."

Before she could say anything more, another voice joined in, the man it belonged to entering the scene as he always did. Literally entering it as if it wasn't just a crime scene but instead a stage. _His_ stage. Oh, and how well he managed to turn any scene into his stage.

"Well, well. What do we have here for today?"

"Looks like some kind of prank or something," Dan replied, appearing out of nowhere just as Ella had a few seconds before.

"A prank?" Lucifer looked around somewhat annoyed. "All this… creative artwork and no body to match it up?" Chloe could practically hear his thoughts. _'Boring…'_

He still looked with a bright smile at his partner expectantly, probably wanting her to get into his play to make all this a bit more interesting. But today she just wasn't in the mood, so she shook her head and turned back to Ella.

"So what is all this?"

Ella shrugged and gestured around them. "Well, it's not human blood, as far as I can tell right now. We'll have to run more detailed tests to be sure about what animal we're talking about."

Before Chloe could answer anything, Lucifer bowed down, deliberately pulling his finger through the blood and actually tasting it.

"Uh, man, what are you doin'?!" Ella exclaimed.

"I'd say there's some beef on the menu for today," he answered and looked around again. His smile fading, he sighed loudly. "Well, I had expected more from this."

That was when Chloe frowned. "How did you even know about this? I hadn't called you yet." Checking with Dan and Ella, who both quickly shook their heads, she looked back at her partner.

"I have my ways."

And with that, he turned around and stalked off their scene. That was so typical of the man. But he was right, as he annoyingly so often was. This wasn't a murder scene, so it actually also wasn't her business as well.

"Let's pack this up," she commanded her team. Looking at Ella, she continued, "Can you take care of the evidence and hand it all over?"

"Sure, no problem," the small CSI answered and watched as Chloe and Dan followed Lucifer off the scene as well. Why was this always her problem while the detectives got all the good parts of the job? Oh, yes. Because they _were_ the detectives.

"I'll take care of… everything," she called out to them, only getting a short wave from Dan in return. "I'll just… mop everything up and… and bag the body parts. Yay!"

Chloe didn't wait though. She was somehow glad to get away from all this. While she still didn't know what had made her this uncomfortable when she'd entered the scene, somehow this had looked a bit… _familiar._ Had she been to a scene like this before? She couldn't remember a specific one.

"Are you alright, detective?"

Surprised, she turned around, only to come face to… well, chest, actually, with her partner. Hadn't he left before her? How did he manage to get behind her? Did she pass him somewhere?

"Detective?" His voice was all but a purr when he bowed his head down, his patented smirk on the lips.

"I'm… I'm okay, Lucifer." She was sure that she sounded as convincing as she had planned to.

"Are you sure?" Okay, so maybe she hadn't.

It was annoying how much he always managed to get under her skin. Making her squirm and avoiding his gaze. Even if his 'mojo thing' that had everyone else tell him what he wanted to know didn't work on her, she never knew if he would somehow… manage to get into her head as well.

"It's just… it's just this scene," she finally admitted. "I don't know. It just… feels familiar somehow."

He nodded but she was quite sure he didn't really get what she was trying to say. So she sighed and turned around once again. No body, no victim, no case. Not her case anyway. Pollution was out off her line of work. If there was no dead human, there was no homicide.

"I'll get back to the precinct now."

"How about some coffee before that?"

She blinked, not sure what he was up to. "We have coffee at the precinct, Lucifer."

"Yes, but it's awful."

Sighing again, she had to hide the little smile that had almost made it to her lips. Sometimes, his honesty was endearing. But even if this was one of those times, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to go for it today. She was still feeling off somehow, and the last thing she wanted was for him to get under her skin when she was like that.

But it was kind of nice of him to ask anyway. And she couldn't help but smile about that thought. He could be… _comforting_ at times. Still, there was lots of paperwork to catch up on and the Lieutenant was already on her heels about that.

So she just smiled genuinely at him and shook her head. "I think I'll survive."

She could see the disappointment in his eyes, while he kept his own smile on his lips. Sometimes, she admired him for that. He could smile and look like all was well when she knew deep inside her that the smile had to be fake. She frowned and looked at him again.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't."

"I have my ways, Detective."

Snorting, she shook her head. Well, back to his usual antics. How could she ever expect the man to be truthful about anything? He prided himself in never lying and still managed to not tell the truth as well. Must be a lot of effort to come up with a line that was neither truth nor a lie all the time. And right now, she wasn't in the mood to entertain him. There was still too much paperwork piling up and there was still the Lieutenant who wasn't all that pleased she was getting late on it - again.

"I'm not sure I like your ways today."

So she finally walked over to her car, not waiting for him to find another reason he could trail along with her. Even if she couldn't shake the feeling that his strange invitation was his way of asking nothing more than for her to keep him some company. Only, she didn't feel like entertaining him today. If she knew anything about the man, it was that he loathed paperwork. It was a sure thing he wouldn't be on her heels when any formal police work was needed.

He only cared for the "fun stuff" as she liked to call it. Well, today she would be happy about anything that didn't fit into that category. Since for once… she would love to have a "boring" day at work.

* * *

 _A/N: Please leave review and tell me what you think so far! Thank you._


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thank you very much for your kind reviews! I'm glad you like the story so far!_

 _Also I would like to thank agan Sop12345d once more for doing the beta!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"Have you heard about the new 'blood scene' already?" Dan asked the second she entered the precinct. He stopped dead in her tracks and merely looked at her. "There's another one. Just heard it from Hendriks."

Chloe shook her head and turned towards her desk. This was so not the way she liked to start her day. A shiver was running down her spine when she thought about yesterday's scene. She could still smell the blood around her and it gave her the creeps because she had no idea why this had creeped her out this much. It wasn't her first blood covered crime scene. She had seen really bad things in her time as a detective. But still, this felt different.

"Aren't you at least a bit curious about it, Chloe?"

Once again, she shook her head and let herself fall down onto her chair. She felt awful. For several nights now, she wasn't sleeping well. She suspected some dreams were hunting her. But once she woke up, she couldn't remember them.

"Probably just some kids fooling around..." she muttered and looked at one of the files on her desk.

 _Still_ some paperwork left. Even though she'd worked on this all day yesterday. But only one more to go and she would be finished. These were the situations where she longed for having a "real" detective for a partner. Instead of a civilian consultant who - while he somehow managed to actually help her solve the case - didn't care to help her with the paperwork for just a tad _second._

But before she could open the file, Ella arrived, her eyes blazing with excitement as they so often did.

"Did you hear about it?" Chloe just had to smile at her. The young CSI always seemed to be on edge somehow, but while they've only been working together for a short while, she had come to like the young woman.

"The other blood spatter scene?" Dan interrupted, excitement colouring his voice as well.

"Yeah, man. Must have been gruesome. Even more so than the first one."

Although she didn't really care to get reminded of all that blood because she still got the shivers from the memory, Chloe also couldn't stop listening to the two when they continued to exchange what rumors they'd heard about this strange case.

"Did you hear they did some drawings or so with the blood this time?" she heard Dan exclaim at one point, which immediately drew her attention back to the easy banter between her two colleagues.

"Yeah, I did. I can imagine what Lucifer would have to say to that," Ella replied, laughing, but quickly looking around as if her words would somehow magically summon the tall nightclub owner.

"It's not as if we'll get the case just because somebody draws anything in blood," Chloe huffed. It wasn't as if he really _was_ the devil. Right?

But she had to admit that something did give her the creeps about the whole thing and she was kind of glad that it had turned out the first scene wasn't a homicide. She wouldn't want to guess whatever Lucifer might have conjured up this time. He would probably make this somehow to be about the devil - "himself".

Smiling just a bit, she shook her head and turned back to her desk.

As if anybody who knew him would take him for the devil. Even if he had a really wicked sense of humor and he… well, he obviously gave out favors in return for some serious IOUs. But _come_ on! The guy was nothing as you'd expect the devil to be. He wasn't… evil or something. And even if he made a point of mentioning that being the devil didn't actually have something to do with being evil… well, who was supposed to believe that? _Really?_ The devil being nothing but a misunderstood celestial being? Oh come _on!_

Although she had to admit, there was something about him Chloe couldn't quite grasp, but it was… _hot_ \- in a way? Even if she'd never fall for this act. Really. Never! No… no _way!_ Everybody else might but she definitely wouldn't.

"You heard me, Chloe?"

"Uh...?"

"Have you seen Lucifer?" Ella repeated herself.

Shifting her files around as if she was looking for something just to avoid Ella's gaze, she quickly shook her head. "No, no I haven't, actually. Why?"

"Duh! 'Cause of this case of course."

"Which case?"

"The blood drawing kind of case?"

Chloe sighed. So this was still about the case that wasn't an actual case. At least, not theirs. This was all about the one she didn't mind not having on her desk for a change by the way. Had she mentioned that before?

"That is none of our business," she replied, her tone making it obvious that she didn't want to hear anything else about it.

"Decker!" the Lieutenant's voice interrupted them. So Chloe stood up and faced her. Something told her this wasn't something she was going to look forward to.

"I have a case for you, Decker."

Chloe took the note the Lieutenant had brought. "Really?"

Her supervisor just shrugged but couldn't hide the small grin, though. "I guess you should call your consultant already."

"Lieutenant, please!"

"Decker…!"

Chloe sighed and nodded. So, she would call Lucifer and she just knew he would love this one - not!

The Lieutenant turned around and went back to her office, while Chloe was still pondering over how long she might be able to put off the phone call. Maybe she didn't need to call Lucifer right away? It would definitely be better if she took a look at the scene herself before her partner started to loom over her shoulder.

Granted, he _was_ helpful for her track record but he was also a royal pain in the ass, so to speak. And having him roam the place where some lunatic was drawing pictures in blood… She could think of more fun ways to kill the boredom.

That was when Dan snatched the note out of her hands and started to laugh.

"Can I call him? Oh, _please,_ Chloe. Let me call him."

"Very funny, Dan!"

"What is it?" Ella joined and snatched the paper from the detective. "Oh, you've got the blood drawing case! It's a homicide now?"

Apparently… And she just knew that this one wasn't going to be pretty - in oh so many ways.

She sighed and took the note back, all the while packing her stuff together so she could leave for the scene.

"Can I come with you? You'll need a CSI, won't you?"

Chloe just shrugged. Well, at least Ella might be able to handle Lucifer, while she herself could work the case. There was something appealing about this thought. So she finally nodded and watched Ella quickly hurry over to her lab to get everything she'd need to process the scene.

"When will you call him?"

She sighed and shrugged again. "Do I have a choice, Dan?"

He merely smiled back at her and shook his head. "Nah. But I somehow have the feeling that you wouldn't want it any other way."

Chloe huffed. This was _so_ not true! She could think of way more fun ways to spend the afternoon… And even if Lucifer was fun - _sometimes_ , he would find anything to turn this case into something about himself. He always did, didn't he? Unfortunately, most of the time he was actually right about their killer anyway.

"When are you gonna call him?" Dan asked again and she could hear that he was having a hard time suppressing the laughter.

"I will call him," she merely replied, not willing to make the call just yet. She wanted to at least have enough time to make it the scene before he did.

About twenty minutes later, she was steering her car onto the grounds of what must have been a production hall or a warehouse a long time ago. It didn't look as if anyone had used it for quite some time, though. For a second, she wondered if it was actually safe to go in there. But obviously, somebody already had and the building had to be cleared already because there were several police cars waiting outside and she could even spot a CSU van from another department.

"Who called it in as a homicide this time?" Ella asked while still trying to get her equipment out.

Chloe just shrugged. "Apparently CSU tested the blood to be human and since the drawings are rather… specific, the Lieutenant gave the case to me."

And wasn't that going to be the highlight of the day?

Ella frowned, but got her utilities ready and followed Chloe towards the large building.

"What do you mean by 'specific'?" The young woman asked when they were halfway there.

"You haven't read the all of the note, the Lieutenant gave me?"

Now she had the young CSI intrigued. Chloe could practically feel the curiosity ooze from Ella when they continued towards the building.

The had almost reached the building when Chloe heard another car arrive. And didn't she just know the sound of that one? She sighed and turned around to see Lucifer park his Corvette beside her own car.

He got out, put his suit in order and smiled at her before he practically stalked over towards them. Something was strange, though, about his posture. Was that fatigue? Did he actually look tired? His suit was in order, as he always was, along with his hairstyle. And yet, she couldn't put a finger on it, but something seemed off about him.

"Just in time, Lucifer," Ella greeted him.

Lucifer merely smiled at the young CSI and continued towards the building, the two women following him. Although Chloe had the feeling she should be the one leading the way, she was quite sure that it'd be more of an effect if he was the one to enter this scene first. Did he know what was in there? What the Lieutenant's note had stated?

"Oh my gosh!" Ella exclaimed once they were inside. And those were just the words Chloe had wanted to say.

The sight that greeted them was, in a way, even _more_ gruesome than the last one. Chloe glanced at Lucifer and she could see the smile vanishing from his lips. His eyes were almost blazing in anger as he stepped forward and huffed.

"Stupid humans," he murmured, before he finally continued forward.

"Is this for real, Chloe?" Ella whispered, a bit of fear in her voice.

She shrugged and followed her partner. There was only one way to find out… they would have to work this case. Looking for a way to avoid most of the drawings in blood on the floor, she went over to the officer that seemed to be in charge of the scene so far. He would be able to shed some light into why homicide had been called in.

"They didn't even get this one right!" she heard Lucifer call out when he knelt down beside one of the lines drawn to the ground. Something that looked distinctly like a human heart was lying in front of him.

"Detective Decker?" She merely nodded. "Well, I'm glad to hand this over to you. Here are my notes."

She frowned. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Look around. I'm not gonna stay here. This is the Devil's work. I don't want anything to do with this."

"This is _not_ my doing!" Lucifer exclaimed from where he was still staring at the floor. He raised himself up to his full height and stalked over to them so quickly that the poor Officer didn't have a chance to run away first. "Why do you people always blame _me_ for your _own_ atrocities?"

The man just stared back at Lucifer, not knowing what to say. But when he looked at Chloe for help, she could do nothing but shrug. She had tried to understand his obsession with himself being the Devil, but had long since given up.

"Man, I don't know what you're talking about. But I don't want anything to do with pentagrams and entrails lying around. I'm out of here!"

Lucifer huffed and turned towards her. "Did you hear that?!"

"Calm down."

"Calm down?! Some lunatic draws a pentagram on the floor and suddenly it's all my fault?!"

She sighed. Sometimes it was really hard to put up with his method acting thing. And she wasn't really in the mood to entertain him about it. This was her case now and if he didn't want to work on it, he should get out and let her do her work.

Not to mention that the last time they worked on a case about Satanists, it had all went to hell in a handbasket. Three murders and a cop who ran around like crazy, abducting her daughter and Lucifer getting shot - without actually being shot. That was a memory she'd rather forget - all of it.

"None of this is your fault, Lucifer," she whispered, her voice strained because she did very well remember the fear she had felt for her daughter and the tremors when she saw Lucifer going down.

"You just heard him, didn't you?" he still tried to argue. She sighed again, but this time didn't answer. What was she supposed to say to that? "Let's go!"

"What?"

"Well… do your detective things and then let's find whoever did this. I have a few things I want to tell this guy."

Okay, she would be able to work with that. So Chloe managed to give him a small smile. Patting his arm, she pulled his still somewhat stiff form with her. Although she still wasn't really eager to work this case, she had a job to do. And whether she wanted the case or not… Lucifer would know quite a lot about whatever might have happened here.

* * *

 _A/N: Please don't forget to review, it's fuel to my keyboard ;)_


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thank you so very much for your reviews! I'm really glad you like the story so far._

 _And of course another thank you also to Sop12345d for beta reading._

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

It took her less than three minutes to scan through the few lines the Officer had written down about this case. The way he'd practically fled the scene spoke volumes but he also hadn't cared to look into anything so far.

"At least we know who owns this place," Choe murmured when she walked over to Ella who was already carefully bagging what had appeared to be a human heart.

Ella frowned and closed the cooling box after putting the organ inside.

"Who'd do such a thing? And what for?"

"A call to the Devil, I suspect," Lucifer answered quickly, disdain clear in his voice. "Foolish humans…"

Chloe stared at the large pentagram they were standing at. "You think this is some act of satanism or such?" Lucifer merely looked at her, daring her to contradict him. "Right. You're the expert here."

"I don't know about this," Ella said, still frowning. "Something's off."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, the heart was surgically removed. The cuts are too precise. It wasn't just… ripped out of somebody's chest or something."

Lucifer huffed. "So somebody tried to avoid being messy."

"And I'm not sure about all this blood. The large pentagram here is drawn in human blood, they already tested it. But all the rest…?" She gestured at the cryptic lines that were drawn all over the rest of the floor.

"It's too much to be from one body," Chloe agreed, sighing.

Ella nodded. "The human body holds about… five litres, maybe six… Not enough to draw all _that_."

Shaking her head, Chloe stood up and walked around the hall, avoiding the lines of blood she had to pass at almost every step. What were those people thinking? Calling the Devil? For real? She glanced at Lucifer, who was looking rather uncomfortable while scanning the area. Actually, he looked tired once again. She'd seen it the day before when they had been at the other scene, but even if he tried to look as if everything was normal, she'd say he looked even more fatigued today.

"Why do you think this is some kind of… call to the Devil?" she suddenly asked her partner.

Lucifer looked a bit startled when he turned to her, before sighing "Well, it's not the first time somebody has drawn a pentagram and thought I'll come forth just because of it."

Chloe shook her head and tried to put the thought out of her head again. He might like to play the Devil, but he wasn't, and sometimes she wished he'd stop talking like that. Even if she knew it was just an act, the thought of the Devil being real was giving her the creeps. She'd never been very religious, even less so after her dad had been killed, but still… _No!_ Definitely not going there!

Lucifer was not the Devil, he was merely playing one.

"Does it really work?" Ella asked, excitement resonating in her voice.

"Ella, _please,_ " Chloe huffed, but stopped when she saw Lucifer's icy glance at her.

"It's nonsense," he admitted though. "Not to mention that whoever did this had it all wrong anyway."

Well, maybe they were getting somewhere now. Although she didn't like his Devil's act - especially not right here and now - but he _did_ know a lot about this kind of stuff, so maybe she should just put up with it and see where it would lead them.

So she played along and asked, "What is wrong about it?"

"Well, _whatever_ they had wanted to write down there, it's… just gibberish."

"Gibberish?" Ella laughed, but still looked at the strange characters on the floor.

"They do look like Celtic, but none of them would make any sense." He cocked his head to the side as if trying to read them once again.

"You can read Celtic," Chloe laughed, but stopped immediately when Lucifer glared at her once again. "Of _course_ you can read Celtic."

"Well, I'm not really that good at reading it," he admitted. "I might speak all languages but I always found it rather boring to actually learn how to write them."

"Sure…"

"You don't believe me, Detective?"

She frowned, but finally shook her head. They were getting off topic here and it was time for them to get back to the case.

"So, you say somebody tried to call forth the Devil here," she stated. "So, we're looking for some Satanists?"

"There are all kinds of people who try to call me. You'd be surprised how many of them are rather very God-fearing."

Now Ella's interest was piqued as well. "Why would they call the Devil?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Curiosity, I guess."

"Could we get back to the case?" Chloe finally interrupted them. "Ella, take the evidence back to the lab and see if you can find anything. We have a heart here and I want to know who it belonged to. So, see if you can find anything."

Ella nodded and picked the cooler up. "I'll see what else they already bagged. They can surely give me a ride back."

Chloe agreed and then turned back to her partner. "So, we're looking for somebody who's _curious_ to meet the Devil."

"This time, I might be interested to grant them the favor."

She had to laugh when she saw his patented smirk return.

"What is it, Detective?"

"Well, you take this very seriously, do you?"

He huffed and pushed the small wrinkles out of his suit. "Of course I do. You heard the Officer! Somebody kills for this… stupidity and _I_ am the one who gets blamed."

"Lucifer… this is not your fault."

"Of course it isn't!"

Nodding, she sighed and pulled him back towards the large doors that would lead them back outside. "Come on," she said, her voice soft to calm him down again. "Let's see what the owner of this place has to say to all this."

Exiting the building, they were confronted with what seemed to be a rather unwelcoming crowd of bystanders. Chloe couldn't remember having this many Officers around, but she was glad they were here because the looks they received were rather... _uncomfortable._ Some of them were ranting about "The Devils Work" in there and she could feel Lucifer tense beside her.

"Don't," she whispered and guided him towards their vehicles. "Let's get out of here."

"I refuse to be blamed for this atrocity," Lucifer replied, indignance more than obvious in his voice.

When Chloe glanced at the crowd, she could already see people pointing towards them. One of those being the Officer they'd met at the building before. What was the guy thinking, aggravating a crowd like this?! She'd have a talk with his superior later. But for now, she just wanted to get out of this place. To be precise, she wanted Lucifer out of here. Those people didn't look very friendly right now.

"Get back to where you belong!" somebody screamed out of the crowd and Lucifer stopped in front of her - making Chloe walk right into him.

"I will _not_ tolerate..." he hissed but she shoved him forward.

"Just _go_. _Please_!"

He took a deep breath, but did as she'd told him. Her feelings about this kept getting worse and the pit in her stomach deepened. Chloe could feel the icy looks on the people burning into her and her partner. She really didn't understand how people could actually blame him for anything. He might not be the nicest guy around and she suspected he _did_ ask for serious IOUs in return for his favors, but he wasn't a bad guy.

While she was still thinking about the stupidity of the crowd around them, she was suddenly swept off her feet and twirled around. She could hear a rather uncomfortable sounding thump but all she could see was Lucifer's chest now facing her.

"What happened?" she asked, worried, but he just bit his lip before he straightened again.

This time it was him shoving her forward. "Go," he commanded, voice somewhat strained. And since she had wanted to leave anyway, she quickly strode towards her car.

Looking back one more time, she saw a stone flying towards them, but he easily caught it this time. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach that somebody would actually throw stones at them over this. Was the whole town going crazy?!

Lucifer stopped, the stone still in his hand, and turned towards the crowd, his eyes probably glaring at them because she could feel the anger oozing off him. And frankly, she could see fear in the eyes of some of the bystanders. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. There was no need to be afraid of him - at least, not for whatever had happened inside there. He was surely not responsible for any of this.

When she thought he would throw the stone back at the crowd, he merely dropped it and turned back towards her. Instead of calming them down, this seemed to only aggravate the crowd even further. Quickly, other things started flying their way and she barely made it inside her car before the first tomato hit the side window.

Lucifer obviously wasn't as lucky, but he didn't wait for anything else to hit him, instead starting the car and driving off the scene.

She had to remind herself that he wasn't fleeing but it sure as hell looked like he ran away this time.

"Probably better, that he did," she murmured.

Chloe neither wanted him to get hurt nor have anybody in the crowd face him. Although she'd never say he was evil or actually admit that he could be the Devil… well, she had seen a dark side to him - him throwing people around as if it was nothing. But he'd only ever did this to what he called "bad" people, and even if one might think otherwise, those people weren't really bad. They were just scared - and Lucifer knew that, as did she.

Another tomato hit her window and she sighed. Well, she'd known this wouldn't be her favorite case. So she sighed and started the engine.

Lucifer wouldn't go to the precinct right now, and while she knew the name of the owner of their crime scene, she didn't know where to find him yet. But she knew where she would find her wayward partner. The one place he would feel safe.

Lux.

* * *

 _A/N: Please leave a review on your way out. Thanks!_


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** _I am sorry for the long wait but I suddenly got quite busy in the real world and couldn't update sooner. Meanwhile I've been happy to hear that Lucifer got another chance for a fourth season. Unfortunate for me it's on Netflix and I have the bad feeling, I soon won't be able to watch the first 3 seasons on Amazon anymore - which sucks because I paid for the 3rd one. So while I'm happy about the renewal, I'm sad about the "where"._

 _But that's not the reason for the delay, so enough said about it. Hope you'll enjoy the next chapter and I will try to update sooner next time. As usual a big thank you to Sop12345d for the beta._

 _And I would also say thanks a lot for the kind reviews so far!_

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

It had its perks being a regular guest at Lux. At least, if you were a regular guest of the _owner_ of Lux. Even if it was way before opening hours, she could easily enter the building. She had often wondered why Lucifer didn't care to simply lock the doors throughout the day. He was the owner of a _nightclub_ after all. Instead, he always had someone watching the door, giving her, as well as others, the possibility to get to the club even outside opening hours.

And since Benjamin, who was on duty today, knew her all too well, she could easily pass him. Checking the club first, she noticed that Lucifer wasn't there. But one of the regular bartenders was already checking the inventory, making sure everything was in stock for the night. He looked at her only briefly before nodding towards the ceiling. Chloe smiled back at him and quickly turned around to get back to the elevator.

The ride to the penthouse seemed to take forever, but finally the familiar ring announced her arrival at the top floor.

"Lucifer?" she called out carefully when she didn't see him taking a drink at the bar as she had expected.

When she didn't get a response, Chloe walked over towards his bedroom. She could hear a drawer being opened and forcefully being closed as well. He was angry, and she couldn't blame him for it. Although, she still didn't get what had happened to him to take this Devil impersonation this personally.

Carefully peeking around the corner of the opening to his bedroom, Chloe looked for him, only to stop dead in her tracks. He was standing close to the ensuite bathroom door, his suit jacket as well as the button up shirt lying on the floor. She gasped when she saw the two large scars on his back.

This wasn't the first time she'd seen the cruel marks, but it was still a disturbing sight. She had once asked him who had done this to him and he had first told her that his father was responsible - only to change this into himself cutting his "wings" off there. Chloe had always believed that it was another metaphor he had used to describe his escape from a highly abusive parent.

But today, it felt different to see those marks. She shivered, suddenly feeling nauseated. Not by the sight in front of her, but by something that was buried inside her mind and refusing to come out just yet. Something was wrong with the picture in front of her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet.

Risking another glimpse at them, she realized that there was another bruise added to the already abused back of her partner. Was this from before? The bruise didn't look fresh though, more as if it was already a few days old. The blue colour you would expect had already changed to green and yellow in spaces. This didn't look like a bruise from today, more like almost a week old.

Had he been in a fight?

"Lucifer?" she asked quietly.

He still almost jumped and turned around in surprise. Well, this was a first. Chloe had never managed to surprise him in his own domain. But his mask was back in place instantly when he smiled at her - hiding the anger he must be feeling.

"Well, Detective. Seems I finally got you into my bedroom…."

She blushed at his words but he smirked back and she knew he didn't mean it that way. Okay, so maybe he did, but in the time they'd been working together, she had learned to live with his antics - sometimes even missing them when he wasn't around.

"What happened to your back?" she blurted out just to change the topic.

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "I already told you about my wings, didn't I?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, the bruise."

His eyes bored into her as if to gauge her reaction, he finally replied, "Just a scratch. Whoever threw that stone wasn't exactly Major League material."

"That bruise doesn't look fresh."

Lucifer smiled and shook his head. "Well, advantages of immortality."

She sighed and gave up. Whenever he went into his metaphorics, she knew she wouldn't get a real answer out of him. He would continue to tell her whatever fit his "Devil act" and she wouldn't be any wiser in the end.

So she simply asked, "Are you alright?" And when he nodded, she took his word for it.

"I'm not sure my Armani will be, though."

Finally putting a new shirt on, he left towards the living area. Chloe had to smile at his comment and followed him quickly, not wanting to earn herself another salacious comment about her being in his bedroom.

"Maybe you should sit this one out," she finally admitted what she had been thinking during the whole drive over to Lux. But he just snapped around, looked at her incredulously. "Well, that crowd wasn't very friendly and I have the feeling this will only get worse."

Stepping closer, he leaned down to her, and she could feel her heart speed up for a moment when she practically felt the warmth emanating from his still bare chest so close to her. Chloe could feel her cheeks warming up and she could see the mischief back to his eyes when he smiled at her.

"Then, my dear _Detective_ , I guess we should get back to... _work_?"

 _Damn_ the man!

"Lucifer…"

"I will _not_ bow down to these people," he hissed, the playfulness gone in an instant. For a second, she could see the anger flaring up in his eyes once again. But he managed to shove it down as quickly as it had appeared. "What happened there is not my doing. So let's just get whoever did this."

Chloe nodded. She could work with that, although she still had the feeling it would be better for him to keep away from this case. On the other hand, Lucifer was probably the best resource she could find on the topic. So she would go with it. Not the time to look the gift horse in the mouth.

"You mentioned the owner of that building," he got back to the topic while finally buttoning up his shirt and turning towards the bar.

At least one less temptation there… _No!_ Wrong thought. No temptation whatsoever in here!

She cleared her throat and got her notebook out. "Yeah… yeah… Owner… There it is! Francis Drake Harrington."

"Really?"

Chloe frowned. "You know him?"

"Well I know Frankie Drake… Well, let's just say I know him from my _former_ occupation," he laughed and bent over the counter to get a bottle from behind. "Francis Harrington is on another page though."

"How so?"

"Know the name but haven't met him yet."

At least that was something. Chloe herself couldn't remember having ever heard the name. But if Lucifer had, the man had to be important.

"He's a trader," Lucifer continued, thinking about it for a moment. "Old money, really old money. He owns quite a lot of real estate around LA as well."

"What does he trade in?"

Instead of the expected liquor, Lucifer actually produced a bottle of water from behind the counter. He seemed to think about the question for a moment while pouring a glass of water. Was it really water? It didn't fit his image. But she didn't comment on it. For the time being, she was glad he was keeping sober.

"I guess, with the age of that money, his family used to trade in humans, but nowadays they're probably more into the usual stuff… art, antiques, memorabilia, real estate. I don't know for sure, though," Lucifer finally explained. "He's not really on our guest list here, but he's a regular at certain charity balls."

"I'll have Dan check his finances just to make sure," Chloe said and quickly pulled out her cell. "Do you know anything else?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Not that I remember."

She sighed silently and quickly typed a message to her ex-husband slash fellow detective. They would have to question Harrington anyway, but she wanted to make sure she had all the background details before that.

"So…" Chloe got back to the other topic that was still looming over them. "Tell me about the drawings at the other scene."

He sighed. "What is there to tell?"

Chloe stepped closer and took a seat beside him. "Why do you think it was meant to call… the Devil?"

"I'm not the only one, so it should be quite obvious."

She sighed and shook her head. "So any pentagram on the floor is meant to call the Devil? That's hard to believe."

"Of course not."

He stood up and went over to the large gallery of books that adorned the side of his living area. Taking a really ancient one of them out, he returned to her and slammed it on the counter. Looking at her expectantly, he gestured towards the book - obviously wanting her to open it.

So she carefully lifted the timeworn cover, only to reveal pages that looked as if they had been handwritten in the Middle Ages. What was this book? She couldn't understand anything written in there and merely looked back, confused, at Lucifer.

"The original version of _Spritus Inferis,_ " he replied, as if this would explain anything.

"Of _what?_ "

"Call it a handbook to the rites of calling angels, demons and whatever else spirits you can imagine."

She looked back at the book incredulously. "And this is the… _original_ version?"

"Well, the usually known version does not go into details about calling the Devil," he explained and carefully turned the pages until they got to a page showing a pentagram very similar to the one on their scene.

Chloe just stared back at her partner. "And this actually _works_?"

Laughing, Lucifer shook his head. "Well, not the way you probably think. It's not as if somebody puts a pentagram on the ground, lights four candles, rants some prayer and voilá, there I am."

And there he went again, calling himself "the Devil". Why couldn't he put this one away? The image of those large scars on his back came to her mind and not for the first time she wondered how bad the abuse by his father had actually been. To turn himself into a figure like the Devil… She couldn't imagine how much bad things you have to live through to turn yourself into _that_.

"Well then, how does it work?"

"Essentially…" he sighed and sat down himself. "Well, it's been a while… But essentially they said the prayer, and if they were somewhat interesting, I might decide to waste my time on them."

"So there's no rite to call the Devil."

"No."

Well obviously, the people who had splattered all that blood around their now _two_ scenes thought otherwise. She sighed again and looked back at the picture in the ancient book Lucifer had pulled out for her.

Not for the first time, Chloe thought that she was going to hate this case even more pretty soon.

* * *

 _A/N: I made the name of the book up. It's meant to translate to something along the lines of "Spirits and Underworld". I took inspiration though from what I have found about the Liber Juratus Honori, which is supposed to describe rites about calling angels, demons and other spirits._


End file.
